Schoolboy, 11, arrested after classmate broke arm... even though his teachers said it was an accident

Schoolboy Dylan Keetley was mortified when he accidently broke a classmate's arm during a playground 'rough and tumble.'

But the 11-year-old was stunned and shocked when he was later arrested by police on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.

Despite the school insisting the injury had been caused in an unfortunate accident the schoolboy was questioned at a police station for three hours.

Police also wanted to take his fingerprints, photo and DNA as part of the investigation but were refused permission.

Arrested: Dylan Keetley, pictured with his father Mike, was quizzed after breaking a classmate's arm despite his headmaster telling police it was an accident

Last night his parents, Mike and Sharon Keetley, hit out at police
after being told their son could face assault charges over the incident.

They say their son has been left distraught by his ordeal and have condemned police for a heavy-handed approach.

Mr Keetley of Stockport said Dylan was a conscientious pupil, was
not a troublemaker and had already been punished by the school for his
boisterous behaviour.

He said: 'It was kids playing a rough and tumble game. They were all
pushing and shoving each other. Dylan pushed his classmate and he
landed awkwardly. The school looked into it and said it was an
unfortunate accident.

'Dylan has not been in trouble before. He is not a bully. As soon as he realised what he had done he was very upset about it.'

The incident happened last October as a group of boys were playing at Kingsway High School in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.

It is understood Dylan was playing with his classmates on the playground when he tugged on the rucksack of one boy.

The 11-year-old pupil, who has not been named, fell backwards and broke his arm as he landed on the ground.

The school carried out an investigation and found Dylan had been playing rough for which he received a school punishment.

Headteacher Mike Gledhill said: 'We did look carefully into this
matter and in our view the injury that was caused was not done
deliberately. However, we recognise it was serious and we dealt with it
through school sanctions.'

The injured boy returned to school after a few weeks and there is no bad blood between the two boys.

But the family of the injured boy are believed to have been unhappy about the way the school dealt with the matter.

In December police received an allegation of assault from the
family, and Dylan, whose older brother Conor also attends the school,
was arrested when he attended a police station by prior appointment.

A police insider said: 'We used to deal with these complaints more
informally but these days we have to follow new guidelines which force
us to investigate every report of a crime.

'We have tried to be as sensitive as we can in this instance but we
have to arrest someone so we can question them under caution. We have
to follow these protocols but we try to do it as sensitively as
possible.'

Mr Keetley said: 'He has apologised several times to the boy and has
been given punishments for playing rough but there is no way he aimed
to hurt his classmate. There was no ill-feeling there.

'The whole situation is ludicrous.'

Greater Manchester Police confirmed they had arrested Dylan and questioned him about the playground incident.

A spokesman said: 'An 11-year-old boy suffered a broken arm at about 1pm on 9 October 2009.
Another boy was arrested on 16 February 2010 by appointment on
suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. He has been released on bail
pending further inquiries until 23 March 2010.'

Share or comment on this article:

Schoolboy, 11, arrested after classmate broke arm... even though headmaster told police it was an accident